‘erase’ an AR-15 rifle: a response to gun violence by greg bokorimages courtesy of greg bokor

responding to recent tragedies in the united states that resulted from gun violence, american artist greg bokor is using his creative talents to make a statement and encourage conversation about a disturbing social issue.‘erase’ is an interactive art piece, an entry for artprize 2013, that will have viewers physically erase a 6m x 2.5m drawing of an AR-15 assault rifle. the highly detailed illustration is done entirely in graphite pencil, and currently at 80% completed, has taken bokor approximately 300 hours to render. the large-scale piece will be installed adjacent to an enormous stack of erasers, each bearing the name and age of a young victim of gun violence.

visitors will be encouraged to pick up and physically remove a portion of the drawing — the participant in the exposition symbolically makes his or her statement on the issue of gun safety by helping to create the final form of the artwork: an erased drawing of an assault rifle. interaction with the art piece, and the erasing of the drawing will be documented through a time-lapsed video.

the drawing of the weapon, almost completed

recent gun violence in aurora, colorado and newtown, connecticut yielded devastating fatalities which sparked a nationwide exchange about what can be done to prevent these tragic occurrences from becoming a regular reality. regardless of personal opinions regarding gun control and laws, bokor’s art movement surfaces these issues creatively and peacefully, and hopes his work can be both a memorial to victims and a catalyst for contemplation.

bokor draws the image of the assault rifle onto the large canvas

the artist told forbes, ‘this whole thing started after newtown. I had to do something about it. something. anything. I figured I am an art director in advertising, so I should at least tap into those talents. then I came up with this idea. it has become my obsession.’

drawing the 6m x 2.5m assault weapon on the canvas

bokor adds details to the piece

using only a graphite pencil, the illustration is highly detailed

the drawing will be placed next to a stack of erasers

names of young victims will be printed onto the erasers which will symbolically delete the image of the gun

nina azzarello I designboom

aug 20, 2013

5

thinking it is a nice initiative that makes people aware of the amount of weapons and the need to erase as manny of them as possible I’m saying keep up the good work. a sugestion would be to offer the erasers for sale so they can symbolically erase the gun, aswell the money collected by selling the erasers could be put into action physically erasing some real weapons.

The ownership of firearms is a right and American tradition. The symbolic gesture of erasing a firearm especially one as American as the AR-15 is extremely insensitive to the thousands of law abiding American citizens who use firearms to protect themselves and their families each year, a number which greatly outweighs the number of victims of gun violence.

Daniel Free speech is also an American right and more so than erasing weapons from “law abiding citizens” the artist “hopes his work can be both a memorial to victims and a catalyst for contemplation.” Therefore, insensitive or not, just like gun ownership, the artist is in full right to express and opinion which in this case is an open-ended one for the audience to come to their own conclusions

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